Fortune reports that American beers raked in an estimated $252.6 billion in 2014 alone, and the industry has continued growing in years since. With craft-brewing and micro-brewing taking the industry to new heights, more people than ever before are learning how to make beer. But the fermentation process is complex and difficult to control, with any number of variables influencing the taste and quality of your brew. Especially for home breweries and smaller establishments making fewer batches, loss of even a single batch due to quality control issues can set back production for weeks.

While the majority of beer consumed in America continues to be made by mass-market companies, Americans also have enjoyed a love affair with microbreweries for roughly the last thirty years. But fickle consumer tastes, intrusion into the craft beer market by multinational breweries, and other factors have made independent microbreweries a challenging business. Luckily, IoT is redefining the economics of small-scale brewing, bringing all new levels of efficiency and control that empower microbreweries to thrive in unstable business climates.